A Picture Tells A Thousand Words
by judyhopps19
Summary: When flipping through Nick's personal album book,Judy comes across someone who looked very very familiar...what would this picture do to thief relationship with each other?
1. Chapter 1

**(hello,this is my first chapter I ever written so it may be a little bit bad,so contructive criticism is welcome to help me improve my writing:)**

"Can you believe it!"Judy squeaked happily as they approached the front door of their new home. After working in the police force for over a year,Judy and Nick had finally save up enough money to buy their own apartment and move in and live together.

"Clam down carrots,it's just a house,"Nick said calmly,but it was just a act,inside his mind,he was equally as excited as Judy but decided not to show it to mantain a cool and collected look.

"It's not just a house,"Judy corrected Nick,pointing out her index finger. "it's our home." Judy walked foward and gave Nick a hug,taking him by complete surprise.

But Nick decided not to ruin the moment and gave Judy a hug back while patting her back. "You rabbits,always so emotional,"Nick stared,while smiling and looking down at Judy who was looking up at him.

They stared at each other for few seconds in silence. "A...are we just going to stare at each other or we going to enter the house?"Nick asked,ending the quite awkward moment between them.

"Yeah,sure,"Judy replied,pulling away from the hug,"let's go in."

Judy inserted the key into the key hole and with a small twist,the door creeped open slowly.

"After you,"Nick said politely,bowing down like a gentlemen."Ladies first."

Judy smiled at the fox and said,"Didn't know you were such a gentlemen."

"While now you know,"Nick replied,his signature smirk appearing on his face.

They entered the house and was immediately hit in the face with the refreshing smell of new funitures,mixed with the smell from fresh plants that grew in the backyard.

"Smells so refreshing,"Judy stated,letting out a sigh of content and happiness.

"Well,I'm going to unpack my stuff from the boxes,"Nick informed,he walked over to a big pile of boxes and took out the boxes that ha his name written on it,the other boxes had Judy's name written on them.

Most of their day was basically spent unpacking their stuff and setting up their new home and suprisingly,Judy was done with her things way before Nick was done with his.

Board out of her mind,Judy went over to Nicks room to assist him in unpacking his stuff.

Judy knocked on the door and Nick soon replied,"Who is it?"

"Who else would it be?"Judy replied,chuckling at Nick's silliness.

"Oh yeah right...come in,"Nick replied.

With Nick's permission,Judy opened the door and entered the room. "Hey why are you...,"Judy stopped mid sentence as she was left speechless by the state the room was in,things were stew all over the floor until the point that you could barely see the floor.

"What happened here?did a tornado hit?"Judy joked,with an eyebrow raised.

Usually Nick would reply back to Judy's joke with another joke or with a sarcastic answer but now he was soo busy searching through his things that he didn't even bother to answer.

"What are you looking for?"Judy questioned,with a hand on her hip.

"It's something very important to me,"Nick replied vaguely,as he ctoninued to crawl around the floor,searching though his stuff with his hands.

"Wow,what a specific answer,"Judy looked unamused as she replied to Nick sarcastically.

"If you tell me what you are looking for,maybe I can help,"Judy said.

"I'm looking for a red photo album,"Nick replied,Judy's eyes opened wide,she thought about it and asked,"Did it happened to have a banana sticker on the cover?"

Judy's replied got all of Nick's attention as he asked entusiatcially,"You seen it?"

"Yeah..."Judy replied,butting her lips together,it was a claws sign to Nick that something must be wrong.

"Where is it?"Nick asked,getting increasingly nervous.

"I foun it in one my bixes but I thought it was rubbish so I may have thrown it away,"Jusy replied,a nervous grin appearing on her face.

"You what!"Nick shouted at the top of his lungs. "Quick where's the garbage bag?"Nick asked urgently.

"I took it to the frontyard,but the garbage truck may have took it away already,"Judy replied her voice getting more and more timid.

Without replying,Nick rushed out of the house to retrieve her photo album,leaving a very,very confused Judy behind.

After a full hour,Judy was sitting on the couch watching some tv,but she was getting increasingly worried for Nick as he had been gone for quite a long time.

Her mine started to come up with scenarios,what if Nick couldn't find his photo album and got mad at her,maybe that's why he hasn't come home yet,or worst still,Nick got injured or killed hole trying to find his photo album.

If either of this happen,Judy would feel guilty for the rest of her life. Her chain of thoughts were broken when she heard the door unlocking.

Soon Nick emerged,in his paw he held onto his photo album,while his whole body was covered with trash.

Nick was giving off a foul smell and Judy couldn't take it thanks to her snesitive nose,she pucnhed her nose with her hand and asked,"What happened to you?"

"I do not want to talk about it,"Nick replied flatly as he made his way to the shower to get clean.

While Nick was showering,Judy when into his room and picked up the photo album,there must be something very important to him inside for him to go through some much just to get it back.

She started flipping through the first few pages,which were fille with pictures if a bay fox,most likely it's Nick. "Aww,he was soo cute!"Judy exclaimed.

Judy flipped to the third page and saw a picture that must had been taken on Nick's first birthday. Nick was in the center of the photo with to older foxes beside him,which Judy assumed to be his parents.

Judy was ready to filled to the next page,unaware of the heartbreaking photos that lies on that page.

"Judy!"a fierce voice shouted at her,startling the latter.


	2. A Horrible Liar

"Nick!"Judy exclaimed,throwing the photo album out of her hands. "You startled me!"

"Why are you looking through my photo album?"Nick asked,staring down at Judy with his arms crossed.

"I'm just curious,that's all," Judy replied,looking down like a child who was getting reprimanded by her parents for doing something wrong.

"Get out of my room," Nick requested politely with a hand gesturing at the door.

Judy stood up from the ground,she couldn't believe that Nick was that angry that he was chasing her out of his room. "Come on,you can't be that angry,"Judy stated,putting on the most innocent look she could.

"What are you talking about?I'm not even really angry at all,"Nick replied,raising an eyebrow.

"Than why are you chasing me out of you room?"Judy questioned,with her head cocked as she tapped her feet on the ground.

"Because,I'm naked underneath the towel,"Nick replied,gesturing to the towel that he had wrapped around his body. "Unless you want to see me naked,I suggest you leave the room now."

"Ah...yes,"Judy said,she was relief that Nick wasn't angry at her back at the same time feeling kind of embarrass.

Judy walked passed Nick and left the room,closing the door behind her. With Judy gone,Nick could finally put on his clothes.

After a few minutes of drying his fur,Nick out on his casual clothing and walked out of the room. The moment he walked out of the room,his eyes immediately locked onto Judy,who was dressed in a beautiful and elegant pink dress.

Nick was seeing a very rare sight, Judy very seldom dressed up so elegantly and this could actually be the very first time Nick saw her in a dress. Nick was put into a trance by her beauty,he had always thought that Judy was beautiful but with a dress on,she was probably ten times more attractive.

After realizing that he was staring at her like a pervert, Nick snapped himself out of his little trance and with his normal voice he asked,"What's the occasion?"

"Oh,I made a dinner reservation for tonight,"Judy simply replied,smiling at Nick. "We should get going now, our reservation is at 7.30,it will take us about thirty minutes to travel there."

"Alright,sure,you're the boss,"Nick stated,grinning at Judy who smiled back at him.

After changing into something more smart casual, they were soon out of the house and on their way to this restaurant. Judy had two motives behind this and one of them is that she wanted to spend some quality time with Nick and the other reason is that she wanted Nick out of the house so she could look through his photo album.

So Judy needed a reason to go back to the house,and she indeed had one. "Oh no!"Judy pretend to cried out in surprise,while one of her hand was in her purse.

"What's wrong?" Nick asked,his voice filled with concern.

"I left my phone at home,I will have to go home and take it,"Judy replied,trying to sound as convincing as possible,she knew that she would breed some serious acting skills of she wants to treat someone like Nick.

"Oh,alright let's go back than,"Nick replied,he turned to face the direction that they came from when Judy stopped him.

"There's no need for that,i can go back myself,"Judy explained,smiling nervously. All of the sudden,her purse started vibrating and her ringtone start barring out of her phone that was actually in her purse.

"What's that?"Nick asked,his arms folded,with a un amuse look on his face.

"That is my...a...new ringing pants,it alerts me when I need to use the bathroom," Being the horrible list she is,Judy came up with the most unbelievable and stupidest lie ever. Nick would had to be a complete idiot to even call for that lie.

Nick glared at Judy,he don't had to say anything,his facial expression already shows that he knew that Judy was lying. "You're not even wearing pants,you're wearing a skirt,"Nick stated,pointing at her skirt.

"Right,"Judy said,looking down in defeat.

Judy looked up to Nick and said,"I just remembered,I forgotten to take a promotion voucher for the restaurant."

Nick sighed,"Alright let's go back and take it."

"No,I will go,you need get to the restaurant by 7.30 if not our reservation will be terminated,"Judy explained, Nick was still a bit sceptical,but this time he could tell that Judy was serious.

"Alright,go,but hurry back,"Nick replied.

"Don't worry,I will be right back!"Judy shouted as she turned around and ran back to their house.

About 8 mintues later,Judy was back at the house. The first thing she did was to get the voucher from the drawer in her room before she got back to the real reason why she came back.

She went into Nick's room and picked up the photo album that was on his desk. Finding a comfortable spot,Judy sat down and started flipping through the pages,starting fom where she left off.

The first picture that caught her attention was a picture of Nick with two older foxes,most likely his parents. By the looks of the picture,they were most likely celebrating Nick's first birthday.

"Aww that's so sweet,"Judy thought,her mind couldn't help but thought about how she also had spent her first birthday with her parents,the only difference is,her parents are still around.

When Judy saw the picture of Nick's second birthday,she was sadden and heartbroken when she saw that it only had Nick and his Mom,his dad was no where to be seen. In the picture they were both smiling,but it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that they were faking the smile,how could they still smile,after they lost Nick's dad.

The next picture that caught Judy's attention was a picture if Nick's dad. It wasn't just because his Nick's dad,but something else was drawing Judy's attention to that picture,the fox in the picture looked very farmiliar to Judy,she knows that she seen this fox before.

All of the sudden,Judy heard the sound of the door unlocking. Moving as quick as lightning,Hudy stood back up and placed the alum book back to where it belong before rushing out I Nick's room,just in the Nick of time.

Nick entered the house and saw Judy walking up to him from the corridor. "Why did you come back?"Judy asked.

"The reservation is 8.30,not 7.30,"Nick responded.

"Right...,"Judy mumbled. "But now we only have about thirty mintues,so let's get going."


	3. A Shocking Find

The next day at work was tough for both Judy and Nick,they had spent most of the night partying and hanging out with each other totally forgetting about their work the next day. So when they eventually got to bed,they practically had less than three hours to sleep before they had to wake up and get to work.

Lucky for them,they were both given office duty,which meant less physically tiring activities.

Nick was at his desk,trying to find off his tiredness and stay awake,but it was a fight that he was losing badly.

As for Judy,she was tired too,but something was keeping her awake. She was in a dilemma, one side of her felt that it was alright for her to be curious and to find answer while the other side of her felt that she shouldn't do it as It would be kind of insensitive to Nick.

She fumbled her phone around her hands as she thought if her next move. Earlier that morning,when Nick was still asleep,Judy had sneaked into his room and using her phone,took several pictures of the pictures in Nick's photo album and most of the picture was Nick's dad.

Something about Nick's dad just seemed so familiar to Judy that she just needed answers. Judy sighed and told herself, "I got nothing to lose."

With that few words,Judy had made up her mind,she got up from her chair and ran downstairs to find Clawhauser.

The obese Cheetha was minding his own business,watching videos of Gazelle while eating boxes and boxes of donuts.

"Clawhauser!" Judy shouted,tanning towards him and waving her arms as a friendly gesture.

"Hey officers Hopps!" Clawhauser greeted the bunny back as she stopped next to him. "What can I help you with?" Clawhauser asked.

"I need you help to do a identity scan," Judy replied,fishing her phone out of her pocket. She load the photo of Nick's father and showed it to Clawhauser.

"Oh a fox," Clawhauser stated. "So what kind of case are you working on now?"

"Case?no his not related to any case," Judy replied,grinning nervously at the Cheetha.

"Oh,then I'm sorry,if it's not for a case,I can't do a identity scan for you," clawhauser apologised.

"Come on please," Judy begged,putting on the cutest smile she could. "If you don't say anything about it and i don't say anything about it nobody will know

,"Judy stated,trying to convince Clawhauser to help her.

"Well..." Clawhauser said,stuttering. "I'm still not so sure about it."

"If you do it,I will give you a whole year supply of donut," Judy said,smiling at the Cheetah as she knew that he wouldn't be able to resist the donuts.

"Fine,I will help you," Clawhauser said,giving in to the temptation of the donuts. Judy gave Clawhauser her phone and he immediately got to work.

After a few minutes of Judy standing at the side tapping her feet impatiently while Clawhauser did the identity check,he was finally done. "I got the results!"Clawhauser exclaimed.

"His name is Alexandra Wildes,his been missing for 20 years,presumably dead,"Clawhauser read the information off of his computer screen.

Judy got control of the computer and scrolled through the page filled with information about Alexandra Wilde.

Judy froze when she saw a picture in the page it was a picture of Alex with a very familiar bunny. " Dad?"Judy exclaimed, her mouth opened in shocked.

 **(This is probably the shortest chapter in this whole story as I'm very busy at the moment. So hope you guys understand and thanks for the support and live for this story. Also I'm trying to find a beta reader so if any of you Is interested send me a PM:** )


	4. Chapter 4

"That bunny is your dad?"Clawhauser questioned, chewing a donut in his mouth,while he held onto another donut with his hand.

"Yes,"Judy replied,monotonously. Her face remained stiff with a shock expression,she always thought that her dad was just a carrot farmer and someone who only interacts with other bunnies.

From this picture alone,Judy could see that her dad was way more than that,he was a most probably a scientist and the more shocking thing,he was partner with a Fox,not just any fox but Nick's dad.

"Who is the Fox?"Clawhauser asked, his flabby cheeks bouncing around and hitting Judy in the face,however she was still in too much shock to even care.

"His Nick's Dad,"Judy replied,half heartedly. "OMG!"Clawhauser squeaked,pressing both side of his cheeks with his hands.

"And now you and Nick are partners!"Clawhauser shouted,Judy didn't know why,but for some odd reason,Clawhauser seems so excited about this.

"You know what this means?"clawhauser stated,putting a arm around Judy's shoulders and pulling her closer to his body.

"A...no,"Judy replied,looking down awkwardly at Clawhauser's arm that's around her shoulders.

"It means both of your family is fated to be together!"Clawhauser exclaimed at the top of his lungs,his loud high pitched voice pericing its way through Judy's sensitive ears.

"Yeah..." Judy agreed,smiling nervously at the hyper active cheetah. She went under Clawhauser's arms to get herself out of the weird embracement that Clawhauser had her in.

She looked at the photo again and noticed something,her father was holding onto a folder that had the words'Fallview Laboratory'written on it.

"Fallview Laboratory?"Judy mumbled under her breath. "Where is this place?"

"Let me ran a quick check for you,"Clawhauser offered,with a few click of the mouse and a few searches using the keyboard,a page about the laboratory loaded onto the computer.

"Thanks,"Judy took over the mouse and scrolled through the page,until she reached a section where there are pictures of the laboratory.

Judy gasped,her eyes widening in shock when she saw the pictures of the laboratory,it was a very familiar building to Judy,it was the same building that mayor Lionheart used to keep the savage animals captive.

Judy switched the page back to Nick's dad and scrolled down to the picture of Nick's dad with her dad. She examined the photo closely,scrutinizing each and every single detail in the photo,until she found something that interested her.

In the background of the picture,the door to the room was clearly visible with the number 85 written on it. "Room 85,"Judy whispered out her findings.

She reached into her pockets and fished out her phone and started typing down her findings. Once she was done, she kept her phone and told Clawhauser," Tell the chief that I'm taking the day off and don't tell anyone anything about the things that I just searched."

"Especially Nick,"Judy requested,with a serious look and tone.

"No problem,your secret is save with me,"Clawhauser reassured her,while he deleted all their searches from the search history.

"Thanks again,"Judy said,she walked out of Clawhauser work space and before she left the building,she turned back and waved goodbye to Clawhauser,"See you later!"

"Bye Officer Hopps!"Clawhauser shouted acrossed the lobby of the ZPD while he waved goodbye to Judy.

...

A police cruiser pull up at the entrance of the laboratory, the door opened and Judy came stepping out.

She looked up at the building towering above her,bringing back memories of the Night howler case.

Judy sighed and mumbled,"Here goes nothing." She pushed opened the door and entered the unknown on the other side.

It was dark,but Judy had her trusty phone with her that also functions as a flashlight. As It was a abandoned laboratory and hospital,that was a foul smile lingering around in the air.

"Room 85...,"Judy repeatedly said out the room number as she walked along the dark and eerie corridors,trying to locate the room.

It was very quite,so quite that you could hear a pin dropping onto the floor. "Bingo!"Judy cried out excitedly as she shined her phone at a door which had the number 85 on it.

She grabbed onto the door Bob and slowly opened the door,the moment the door opened a gust of foul smelling air came rushing out,hitting Judy straight in her face,causing her to cough a few times.

She shined the light around the room,everything was in a mess,furnitures overturned,paper and stationeries all over the floor and the most creepiest,big claw scratch marks on the walls.

Judy proceeded into the room with extreme cautious,not knowing where to start her search,she decided to start from the cabinets.

She pulled opened the cabinets one by one and to her disappointment,most of them are empty,others are filled with things that doesn't interest her.

Until she reached the last cabinet,it was filled to the brim with folders and folders of paperwork,and the first folder that Judy saw was the very same folder that Judy saw in the photo.

She picked it up from the cabinet and pulled a near by chair over to sit. She sat down onto the chair and started flipping through the folder.

The first few papers were all science formulas,experiments set ups,things that the average animal would never be able to understand including Judy.

She flipped the page one more time and this time she saw the words'Night Howlers Formula' written at the top in bold.

Judy's eyes opened in shocked,she read through the page and for some reason,her heart was beating faster and faster with every word she read.

"Dad,what did you do?"Judy mumbled.

She readjust her grip on the folder and felt something sticking out. Curious,she flipped through the folder,until she found the thing that was sticking out. It was some sort of memory card.

Judy took out her phone and connected the memory card to her phone,using a file explorer,she was able to acess the file on the memory card.

There was a video file,titled'Test 1' and this caught Judy's attention. She clicked onto the video and it started playing.

The first few seconds of the video was just Nick's dad and Judy's dad taking to each other with a scientific language that Judy would never be able to understand.

Things were starting to get boring until...the voice of a very farmiliar sheep appeared.

"No,"Judy cried out in disbelief. "Bellweather!"


	5. Questioning The Sheep

Bellwether was in her cell,leaning against the wall and counting the seconds as they pass by when she heard a knock on the cell door.

"Bellweather!you got a visitor!"A prison guard shouted from the other end of the door. "Place your hands where I can see them!"The Prison guard ordered as he entered the room and wasted no time in handcuffing bellweather.

"Who's my visitor?"Bellwether questioned as she was escorted out of the prison cell but she was ignored by the prison guard.

She was escorted through several hallways before they reached the visiting room. "Sit here!"The guard ordered,pointing to a chair. Bellwether sat down on that chair before she was hand cuffed to it by the guard.

Bellwether sat on the chair calmly,as she stared through the glass window that separates her from her visitor. The door on the other side opened and much to Bellweathers surprise,Judy came in.

"Officer Hopps,what a unexpected surprise!"Bellwether exclaimed,leaning back on her chair as Judy took a seat on the other side.

"I'm not here to chit chat with you,"Judy said sternly. "I have some questions for you."

Bellweather's face lit up with interest as she said,"What could you possible want to ask me?"

Judy reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone,with a few clicks,she loaded the picture of her dad and Nick's dad.

"Do you recognise them?"Judy questioned,holding her phone straight into Bellweather's face.

"Hmmmm…..,"Bellweather hummed,indicating that she was thinking. "I'm sorry officer hopps,I don't recognised them."

Judy clenched her fist and raised her voice'"Take a closer look!don't tell me you don't know who they are!"

Bellweather grinned,pissing Judy off more with each second that passed by. "They do kind of look familiar,"Bellweather stated.

"Stu Hopps and Alexandra Wildes!"Judy shouted. "This name should ring a bell shouldn't they?"

"Oh,now I remember,"Bellweather replied. "They were my very first scientist that worked on the night howlers."

"Why would they help you!"Judy exclaimed. "My dad will never do anything that will harm any other animals!what did you threaten him with!"Judy shouted,losing control of her emotions.

"So Stu Hopps is your dad?"Bellwether asked,nodding her head. She grinned at Judy and said,"Your dad is not as innocent as you think."

"What do you mean?"Judy questioned,leaning back on her chair and folding her arms.

"Your dad,is a clod blodded murderer!"Bellweather exclaimed. Judy froze in her place,she thought her ears were platingn tricks on her but she knew they weren't.

"Don't you dare say that about my dad!"Judy shouted,shooting up from her chair in rage. "My dad will never hurt anyone!"

"I know its hard to accept the truth,"Bellweather said,as she Judy sat back down in her chair. "But your dad caused Alexandra wilde to die."

"And if I'm not wrong,Alexendra Wilde,is Nick's dad,"Bellweather stated,Judy eyes opened in terror at what Bellweather was saying.

"I wonder how he will react if he find out that his dating the daughter of the very rabbit that killed his father,"Bellweather said,in threatening tone.

"You're lying!"Judy shouted,still refusing to accept the truth.

"I'm not,your dad killed Alexandra wilde because of a disagreement when they were working together and what's even more disturbing Judy,is that they used you as a genie pig for one to their little experiment!"Bellwether recounted,delivering another heavy shocked into Judy.

"If your dad is cold hearted enough to perform a experiment on his own daughter,I'm sure he is able to commit murder," Judy sat there,frozen in time as she tried to process everything that bellweather told her.

The door to the room shot opened and the prison guards came in. "Visiting time is up,"The guard informed them as he uncuffed Bellweather from the chair and got her to stand up.

Before Bellweather was taken out of the room,she turned back to Judy and said,"You decide what you want to do."

Judy clenched her fist,her mouth trembling from shock and anger. She didn't wanwbat to believe what bellweather said,but she had this gut feeling that bellweather was telling the truth. The only thing left for her to do is to find her dad and get the answers and truth from him.

…..

It was lunch time and Nick had came down from the office and was at the main atrium of the Police station where he met up with Clawhauser.

"Clawhauser!"Nick called out to the cheetah as he approached him. "Have you seen Judy?"

"Judy?No,have not seen her today,"Clawhauser lied,looking away from Nick nervously hoping that he wouldn't suspect a thing.

"Where could she be then,"Nick thought,rubbing his chin with his paws.

Clawhauser thought about it and figured that he could at least tell Nick that Judy had taken tow days off. "Oh,i think I remember that the chief told me that Judy took two days off from work,"Clawhauser stated,lifting a paw up.

"That's weird,"Nick stated,with an eyebrow raised.

"Why is that so?"Clawhauer questioned,while he pulled out another box of donuts.

"Judy never takes breaks and even she does she would have told me,"Nick explained,while he took out his phone.

He dialed in Judy's nunber and called her,however he was directed to Judy's voicemail. "She must be busy with something,"Nick concluded.

"Yeah,"Clawhauser agreed nervously. "You want a donut?"He offered Nick,holding the box out.

"Sure,"Nick accepted the offer,taking a piece of donut from the box.

…..

At the central train station,Judy was sitting on the bench,her earpiece plugged in as she waited for her train to come. She was heading back to her home town of Bunnyburrow to get the truth out of her parents,especially her Dad.


End file.
